I’ve come to think protein is somewhat over-rated as a concern for vegans. Unless you’re trying to be a body builder, I think it’s pretty easy to get enough protein through the sources mentioned in the OP (cereals and legumes are complimentary in terms of their amino acid content).
As long as you aren’t feeling hungry most of the time, you’re probably getting enough protein. So I would say it doesn’t really take any extra effort. e.g. If all you eat was bread, you’d be getting enough protein. I think most people in the west probably eat more protein than they need.
This is likely true if you’re mostly sedentary, but if you work out (especially if you’re building muscle) then you probably need to pay attention to your protein intake.
Anecdotal evidence: Before I started tracking my protein intake, I was getting around 50-100g of protein a day. To build muscle, someone my weight needs more like 120g.
Ah, good point. I haven’t met anyone doing that before. People seem to prefer protein shakes, maybe because protein includes significant calories and most people want it to feel somewhat like ‘food’ when they’re consuming a lot of calories.
Relevant links:
Soylent
Mealsquares
Powersmoothies (a side-project of Givewell’s Holden Karnofsky)
I broadly agree with your advice. Basically, I think that for a vegan, the main nutritional challenges are going to be:
B-12, which must be supplemented
Calcium, which can generally be obtained from fortified soy milk or—failing
Protein, which will take more effort
Most of the rest can come from eating a few different vegies.
I’ve come to think protein is somewhat over-rated as a concern for vegans. Unless you’re trying to be a body builder, I think it’s pretty easy to get enough protein through the sources mentioned in the OP (cereals and legumes are complimentary in terms of their amino acid content).
Vegans can easily get arbitrarily high levels of protein by supplementing with pea or soy protein isolate.
As long as you aren’t feeling hungry most of the time, you’re probably getting enough protein. So I would say it doesn’t really take any extra effort. e.g. If all you eat was bread, you’d be getting enough protein. I think most people in the west probably eat more protein than they need.
This is likely true if you’re mostly sedentary, but if you work out (especially if you’re building muscle) then you probably need to pay attention to your protein intake.
Anecdotal evidence: Before I started tracking my protein intake, I was getting around 50-100g of protein a day. To build muscle, someone my weight needs more like 120g.
there’s others too e.g. brown rice protein. They mostly taste bitter and grainy though!
Almond butter seems like a winner, especially in smoothies, but also added to sauces or eaten with celery etc.
Ah, good point. I haven’t met anyone doing that before. People seem to prefer protein shakes, maybe because protein includes significant calories and most people want it to feel somewhat like ‘food’ when they’re consuming a lot of calories.
There are many sources of calcium that can be well absorbed in a vegan diet. Here’s a helpful chart: http://www.vrg.org/nutrition/calcium.php